Pregnancy and childbirth are leading causes of death in teenage girls in developing countries

Complications from pregnancy and childbirth are the leading cause of death in young women aged 15 to 19 in developing countries, warned a report published last week. An estimated 70 000 adolescent mothers die each year because they have children before they are physically ready for parenthood, the report says.

The fifth annual State of the World's Mothers report, published by the international charity Save the Children, found that 13 million births (a tenth of all births worldwide) each year are to women aged under 20, and more than 90% of these births are in …